It's Complicated

Hey, what's up? This is Tim Pratt Jr. I want to thank you for taking the time to listen to this content today. I hope you hear something that has value to your life, shaping your perspective, faith, and hope, as well as the application to see it through on this thing that we call life. Enjoy. Episode 6 is complicated. So listen, I'm just about to go in on this episode because I feel like it's one that's going to truly help us gauge the type of relationship that we have for Christ. Because one thing that I've learned, I've continued to learn, is that the most successful relationships in life are when both people are living in truth. And notice I didn't say our truth, because our truth might not be the divine truth, which is— if it's not, we're in error. And I know it's very popular, speak your truth, live your truth, but if it doesn't line up to God's word, which is the final and the divine truth, I believe in my whole heart that we are living a life in error. It's just that simple. And so, for example, my wife and I, the times that we do— the few times that we do have disagreements or arguments, we go to the word of God. Because my flesh wants to be right, her flesh wants to be right. It's like living in our truths, what we feel is true. But then God's word say this, and it forces our spirit— it speaks our spirit and forces our flesh to conform accordingly. And in hindsight, I believe that's why her and I always say, man, I'm so glad we did that, because we know we're living in truth. And yes, like I say, I get it, we're not always going to see eye to eye. However, I don't believe God wants division to exist when he's also called us to become one. And I feel like a lot of times we can't become one is because we want to live in our truth versus the divine truth. I know I just said truth to light, but just bear with me because I really want you to see this through those lenses as well as reading Romans 5 and 8 in order to like just really understand and get the full benefit out of this episode. So now moving along, and this is full transparency, in my past life when I would be having relations with women back in the day, long, long time ago, long time ago, is that oftentimes it's complicated will come up. It's primarily due to I wanted to enjoy benefits but I didn't want to commit. It's just that simple. It's no deep way to put it. That's just the truth. And those benefits primarily was sex. And that's what had me living this lukewarm life because I wanted to enjoy the benefit of a committed relationship, but I didn't want to take that next step and be committed because I enjoyed the benefit that also came with being a single man. So that's often how we look to God sometimes, or if not, a lot of times. And if you haven't experienced it, bear with me because I still feel like you're going to be able to pull from this episode to ask yourself, what type of relationship do I have with Christ? So with me now, you know, as I navigate life and I reflect back and I was doing research for this episode, I came across something on the Ladies Coach blog and she stated that if it's too complicated to explain, it might be too complicated to sustain. That hit me. What does it look like? So a lot of times if we can't explain it, man, like, let alone are we gonna be able to sustain it. And so what happens is this: I post all the right things, I say all the right things here, but then I also say a lot of stuff and live a certain way over here. They conflict. And so what happens is I'm called out on it, the truth is going forward. Now I say only God can judge me. That's not in the Bible, by the way. You know, I say things like, God knows my heart, and on and on and on. But what's actually going on is that the truth is going forward and it's leading to conviction, not condemnation. And sometimes I even think we get those confused. No, if someone is beating you up with the word of God, they're in error. But if that word of God is going into your heart and it's convicting you Let it convict, because that's what leads to liberation. And that's one thing that I had to learn. We often mix up the two, and sometimes because we run away from the truth because we don't want to accept it. Because I heard, I think Michael Todd has said it best, the Bible is the only book that you can read that it'll turn back around and read you. And so in my life now, knowing that, that's what started to change the game for me. And like asking 3 questions. Lord, do I have a relationship with you? Is my relationship committed? Am I one with you? Am I married to you? And then the third one is, or do I have this complicated relationship where it's kind of 50/50 lukewarm? And so when it comes to Christ, just like when we have these complicated relationships with people, primarily we enjoy that benefit, like I say, is sex and the cuddling, all of this type of stuff. But Christ is grace, it's his mercy. We need that. That's primarily why a lot of us even have the success that we have today. And so what starts to take place is that we enjoy that benefit, so we do just enough. We start looking for the least resistant path of basically like Lord, I want to look like I serve you. I want to say all the right things, but I'm not living this life wholeheartedly. Like, we forget the verse— two verses, matter of fact, paraphrasing it— be in this world but not of it. But also the one where he says, depart from me, you know, works of the wicked, I never knew you. Because like we said, well, Lord, I did all this, I said all these things, I did all these things in your name, but It wasn't, uh, it wasn't— he didn't never— he never knew us. And so to me, what is he saying? Okay, I'm married. I can acknowledge my wife all day. My wife can acknowledge me. But if we don't commune with one another, truly know each other's desires and the heart of each other, I can acknowledge her all day. Like I just said, she can acknowledge me all day. But it's nothing because I don't truly know my wife. And I can attest to you that that marriage is probably not— this marriage is probably not going to last. And so with God, of course, it's different. I mean, he stands at the door and knocks. He's a gentleman. And so he's always welcome back with open arms. You know, we cheat on God. I've done it. Like, prime example, over and over and over, we were out taking the boys on a family vacation. Something happened with some service we was having. I lost it just that quick. But then my wife spoke to me. I was wrong. I went to the flesh, started operating in the flesh. My wife spoke to my spirit. I repented, got it right. The advocate pressed forward and move on. So once again, what I'm saying is that yes, it's going to be times that we get it wrong. We pent Truly repent. Repent is not a 360, it's a 180. It's turning away, because if you do a 360, you end up right back where you left off. So I don't want to do 360 with God, I want to do a 180, press forward and forget those things behind me. And so with God, like I say, we enjoy those benefits, but that oneness with him, because at the same time, in that same capacity, with me being a married man and my wife being a married woman we married to each other, of course, um, we can't just live any kind of way. We have to live according to the covenant that we took and honor our marriage. So oftentimes, like, I'ma do me, you know, and we live in this world, I'm just doing me. Well, if you are saying that I want to be one with God, you can't just do you. You have to do you according to God's will. Or if you're doing you but at the same time you're acknowledging God— now get it, you go to church, you go to Bible study, But that's just another form of a complicated relationship, because I can be one way now but the other way over here. And so I can't, you know, saying like, we as people, man, we have to get away from it. We got— we have to ask ourselves, is the relationship complicated, Lord, or am I truly living for you? And so like I just said, it's living according to our covenant, the covenant that we took before God, our parents, and, you know, the witnesses that we have. I just can't do everything that I want to do. I can't live as a single man anymore. My wife can't live as a single woman anymore. However, you know what I'm saying, like, we can be us long as it's, you know, in an agreement and it basically doesn't defile our marriage, the covenant that we took before God. And so I just want you to like really take some time and think about it, you know, think about And before I say that, I want to say this: no, God is not like us. Like I just said, he, he's welcoming. So if you out there, I don't want you to take this as like, oh man, I had this complicated relationship, let me just throw in the towel. Like I just said, no, I'm not trying to beat no one up. I've lived this, I've been there. I don't want you to feel condemnation, but let this go and speak to you and let it convict and let it lead you to run towards God and not from him. That's what I, that's what I want God to do through me as I speak and I get on this microphone every single time, you know, as I'm blogging, as I'm living my life. It's not me. I just want people to see God in me. And I want you to see that you can truly have an authentic, committed relationship with Christ and still be effective in this world and stuff. Because I do feel like he wants us to have fun and, you know, live, live on this side, like live on this side of the earth. I do feel like too many so-called Christians, you know, more so church people, feel like, you know, saying it's like you can't do nothing. Oh, you having fun? You know, no, we can enjoy this world, but according to his will. And so as I come— as I close this episode out, just take some time, get to yourself, and just think. Close your eyes if you're not driving. And just ask yourself, man, I'm pouring into this person. I'm giving my all to basically just have a relationship with them, an intimate relationship with them. I desire them. I want them to desire me. And whatever you can think of, just this man or woman that you want to be with. And you want to take it to the next step. You've been giving and giving and giving, and all you're saying is like, I just want to be one with you. And then they come back and say, I can't because it's complicated. Hey, thank you so much for listening to this content today. I want to encourage you, if you haven't already, to subscribe to it and share it with family and friends on your social media feeds. And you can also go over to www.timothyprattjr.org in order to find out more about the blog as well as other things that I offer on how to connect with me. So with that being said, I hope you have a blessed day and continue to see this thing through that we call life.